The move to dismiss charges against David Hearn was an embarrassing setback for the Justice Department and marked a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.

Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in moving to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event, Trump ducked questions about whether he’d fire Pirro, a former Fox News host and longtime ally he handpicked as top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital. But the president kept up his drumbeat of sharp criticism, saying he remained disappointed by her assessment that damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction, not vandalism.

  • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
    31·
    2 days ago

    So Trump wanted to legally harass and potentially imprison an innocent man in a vain attempt to not look like an incompetent asshole.

    Typical.

    • Curious_Canid@piefed.caEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      That’s is an excellent summary.

      I suspect most of what he does ends with with the phrase “in a vain attempt to not look like an incompetent asshole”.